A major part of your success as a property owner will be your effectiveness in filling vacancies and the Fill Vacancy Checklist focuses on improving that part of your real estate investing property management business.
In our Fill Vacancy Checklist we first focus on preparing the property for rent. Having the property ready for a new tenant will make the marketing you are about to do to get potential tenants looking worthwhile. It is a waste to prematurely market a property that is not ready for a tenant.
Before we officially put the property up for rent, we will need to research the current fair market rent is. We use the Determine Fair Market Rent Checklist to do that.
Once we have an idea of the rent that we should be getting for the property, we are ready to implement our marketing plan. Use the Marketing to Rent checklist to get the maximum number of tenants looking at the property.
Once you have tenants applying, screen them and process tenant applications before officially signing a lease at the lease signing ceremony and creating a tenant file.
Until my next post,
James
Be committing to use the Leases Checklist you will significantly reduce your vacancies and improve cash flow in your real estate investing business.
We track all of our leases on the Lease Log which allows us to quickly see the status of all our leases, when they need to be renewed and all other important information for tracking and managing leases.
If we need to renew a lease, we utilize the How to Renew a Lease Checklist to start the renewal process at least 30 days in advance of the lease expiration date.
If we received notice from the tenant that they will not be renewing their lease, we can start to run the Tenant Leaving Checklist as soon as we discover that to get a jump on finding a new tenant and keep our occupancy rate as high as possible to maximize cash flow and limit expenses.
Of course, if we have any vacancies we will want to run our Fill Vacancy Checklist to get a new lease on that property as soon as we can find a qualified tenant for the property.
Until my next post,
James
The following article was submitted to us for publication. While managing security deposits properly is more involved than this, this general advice is good policy for avoiding confusion with your tenants down the road.
No matter how great a relationship you may have cultivated with your renters during their period of tenancy, there’s one big hurdle to ending your contract amicably- giving back the security deposit. Renters, especially new renters, can be very naive when it comes to getting their money back. They can also be very optimistic about how much they’re receiving. It is very common for them to be counting on the money in order to finance the deposit on their next rental agreement. They may even be expecting you to hand them a check on the final day of their rental agreement.
In order to make sure that this transaction happens with a minimum of fuss, you have to do everything you can to manage your tenant’s expectations. On your end, you need to be very fair about what is reasonable. Unfairly gouging your tenant on his way out the door is not only despicable, but it is sure to create more headaches than the cash is worth. Before your tenant moves in, walk through the unit with your tenant, documenting the state of the apartment in writing, with pictures/video, or both. This will make absolutely clear to the tenant that you care about this property, and know exactly what the state of affairs is. At that time, make sure to discuss the deposit procedures with the tenant. Give him a fee schedule in writing so that he can refer to it throughout the year.
Three months before your tenant’s residency ends, send him a letter reminding him of your security deposit procedures, and give him another copy of the fee schedule. At this point, your tenant should really have a reasonable expectation as to how much money he will be getting back. If he comes to you with questions, try to answer them, but make it clear that nothing is written in stone until he has completely vacated the apartment and given you a chance to inspect the premises.
Following these simple steps can help improve your reputation as a fair landlord, reduce conflict and stress in your life, and also get tenants to take better care of your property.
You can also get more information about Property Management including an extensive collection of free property management forms exclusively for the use and benefit of our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members.
Until my next post,
James
This article was submitted to us for publication. The marketing strategy it recommends for filling vacancies is not one that I use in my own real estate business, but it may be something that you find helpful for renting out your properties.
My Great Uncle Sylvester is a real estate genius. His secrets are many, as you might imagine is the case for someone who’s been in the business for nearly fifty years. But if you were to ask him for one good tip, and if he liked you enough, he might tell you about six magic words that increased his Property Management (link to exclusive resources for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Resources) profit margin by tens of thousands of dollars in some years.
“Wanted. Renters. One Hundred Dollar Reward.” Before he struck on this self-explanatory campaign, Uncle Sylvester used to advertise his open rental units in the usual way. When he was a little fish in a little pond, word of mouth was enough to generate a decent occupancy rate for his rental units. But as he grew, and his personal connections ran dry, he turned to the typical realty tools for filling an apartment. He took out ads, making sure to use all of the right wording to attract renters. And he developed a relation with two or three headhunting realty firms that charged him a month’s rent to place a tenant. Between the advertising and the headhunters, he was spending thousands of dollars a year, and he still wasn’t as close to capacity as he would have liked.
But when he got the idea to put up some wanted posters all over town, his phone began to ring off the hook. Everyone is looking for an easy way to make some money, and a hundred dollars for little-to-no work is an easy payday that everyone will give at least a moment’s consideration for. That moment of consideration, multiplied by thousands of people who saw those ads, soon had Uncle Sylvester struggling to handle the renters who were calling him. They all had the name of someone who had referred them, and who would be eligible for those hundred dollar checks.
If you want to follow in the footsteps of a realty genius, you should seriously consider putting up some wanted posters of your own (and don’t forget Craigslist and other free listing services). Just be sure to set up a separate phone line so that you don’t have your primary phone number posted all over town.
You can also get more information about Property Management including an extensive collection of free property management forms exclusively for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members.
